Why does a Canadian-born martial artiste, who transitioned into a model and is now an actor, have over six million followers on Instagram? One glance at Nick Bateman's Instagram page might just be enough to know why. Further still, wanting to know what the fuss was about, we met him in person, the day he landed in Mumbai, on his first-ever visit to India. The six-feet-four-inch hunk is here to shoot for Model Diaries, a series of videos produced by Etihad Airways. Right from the time he landed at the airport at 4 am, the Internet exploded. "There were about 50 people waiting for me, at that hour," he tells us when we meet, still seeming to find it hard to believe. Thanks to analytics, Bateman was aware of his huge follower base in India. About seven days ago, he asked his followers on his page which country he should visit next. "I got a lot of responses from India, but funnily enough I didn't tell them I'd soon be in Mumbai," smiles the 31-year-old.

He had been in the city for 16 hours when we met, and barring the traffic and the spicy food [which he liked] Bateman had not experienced much of Mumbai until then. On Tuesday, the Mumbai rains seemed adamant to give this sunny California resident a taste of the monsoons. As he took a stroll around Gateway of India, the skies began to open up. But, it was raining fans as well. People flocked to him, wanting selfies and Bateman went on to oblige nearly all of them. In the few moments when he was left alone, he took selfies with stray dogs, much to the collective sighs of 'aww's and 'ooh's from the surrounding crowds. The next day, we learnt there was a mini stampede at The St. Regis Hotel where Bateman was staying and also attending the Lakme Fashion Week.